As part of our dedicated Private Label Issue, ESM spoke to industry leaders at a number of retailers across the continent, about why they believe private label continues to set the pace in European retail. This article first appeared in ESM's May/June 2023 edition.
Pietro Poltronieri
Director of Private Label, CRAI Secom (Italy)
The current inflationary situation has led many customers to embrace private labels. What trends have you noticed at your company?
We have now been witnessing, for more than 12 months, a steady growth in private-label share, driven by an inflationary push and a substantial volume hold. On the one hand, increasingly competitive shelf positioning, compared to national brands, and commercial policies support private labels; on the other, the level of innovation, depth and segmentation of the assortment are increasingly signifying the leading role of private labels.
In what product categories have you seen the highest private-label growth, and why?
In general, growth is being seen across categories – certainly the mainstream and convenience segment are experiencing the greatest growth. Among the categories, the fresh and frozen segments are performing best. The price spread compared to national brands, coupled with the value for money of private labels, are the two key drivers of growth at the moment.
How are you seeking to adapt your private-label offering to cater to both value-hungry and premium shoppers?
First of all, we decided to strengthen our organisational structure in the private-label department to better manage goods and industrialise the production process.
We are increasingly working with a strong focus on the product, recipes and presentation. In addition, at commercial policy level, we are also increasingly moving towards everyday low-price management, which certainly makes the offer more attractive to the consumer.
What new private-label product launches or campaigns have proven particularly successful over the past year?
We worked hard on the relaunch of our convenience range, with the aim of better responding to consumer demand for saving money. In addition, we have consolidated the La Rosa dei gusti line through an expansion of the offer – over 100 new SKUs.
This brand is giving us great satisfaction because it represents the soul of our business – the true design and research of exclusive, top-quality products for our customers. In fact, two of these products recently won European Private Label Awards.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest private-label news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones and Robert McHugh. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
